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American or British accent more popular? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| zdri Newbie United States Joined 6279 days ago 29 posts - 74 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 9 of 70 29 May 2012 at 2:05am | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think the British accent inherently sounds stuffy and uptight. However, I associate British
people with a stuffy, clean-cut and overly traditional attitude. Even then, it depends on the type of British person. Nobody would associate the Cockney accent with stuffiness, and England is also associated with punk rock and The Beatles. I don't think the prejudice against accents is as strong as people think. You accent is only a small part of the criteria people use to judge you by. It might be true that British accents are associated with stuffiness, but it doesn't matter. You probably associate women with buzzcuts with masculinity and ugliness, but that doesn't change your opinion of Natalie Portman. Americans associate names like "Barack Hussein Obama" with the Middle East, but that didn't stop him from winning the majority vote. We associate science fiction and furries with nerds and losers, but that didn't stop Avatar from becoming the highest grossing film of all time. I think you get the idea... I think it is odd that so many schools that teach English as a foreign language continue to teach British English. England has not been a superpower for about a century. No offense to the British but it makes sense to teach the most popular way of speaking. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jimmythomas Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4579 days ago 1 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* | Message 10 of 70 29 May 2012 at 2:32am | IP Logged | ||
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There's a fair bit of nonsense in this thread written by people who have clearly never set foot in England. Anyway, to address the main question: I think European schools primarily teach British English. Why? Probably because the UK is a close neighbour and part of the European Union. However, outside formal education, it's clear that American English is by far the more popular choice (most likely due its dominance in media, politics, etc).
To be honest, though, I don't think it particularly matters much. British and American English are pretty much the same, bar the accent and some minor differences in vocabulary. Edited by jimmythomas on 29 May 2012 at 2:42am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jazzboy.bebop Senior Member Norway norwegianthroughnove Joined 5418 days ago 439 posts - 800 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian | Message 11 of 70 29 May 2012 at 4:12am | IP Logged | ||
The problem with the whole stereotype of stuffiness is a result of the people who developed RP which then became the accent of choice of the posh upperclass, mainly of the South, and in the early broadcast media. A tiny percentage of people speak with RP which is also perceived as very posh and often stuffy by the vast majority of Britons. We have a massive range of accents in Britain, which also encompasses Scottish and Welsh accents. (Anyone thinking of Northern Irish accents too, technically they are not in Britain but the UK.) I find it a shame that "the British accent" has become a synonym for RP as it is hardly representative of Britain at all. But then what is I suppose? As for why many places teach British English instead of American English, I think proximity is the main reason. Most places which would teach British English would be in Europe and Britain would be a closer place to visit or do business. With all the American media available it wouldn't be difficult for people to adopt a more American style should the need arise. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zdri Newbie United States Joined 6279 days ago 29 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 12 of 70 29 May 2012 at 4:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Isn't RP considered the standard? I know not very many people actually speak like that, but it is what
they speak on BBC, so I assumed it was accepted. If RP is just something the upper classes arbitrarily chooses to impose on everyone else, that is unfortunate. I think Americans do have an inaccurate image of England. Movies which take place in England seem to purposefully focus on the old fashioned cottages and such. I visited England once and was honestly surprised at how modern everything looked. Generally our perception of accents is also outdated. That applies to American accents also. When people trying to imitate an American Southern accent, often they sound more like old movies than like what modern Southerners actually sound like. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4772 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 13 of 70 29 May 2012 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||
When I analysed my own accent I discovered that it was a huge muddle, as a result of having spent a lot of time in the UK while watching films and TV shows mostly from the US. My views were sort of anti-American back then, so I did my best to expunge all Americanisms from my speech. But then I ended up studying in the US for a year, so now I'm kinda back where I started. Now I'm sorta aiming for an old style Mid-Atlantic accent, à la Cary Grant, but it isn't an important issue for me anymore. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Pisces Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4622 days ago 143 posts - 284 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish*, French, SwedishC1, Esperanto Studies: German, Spanish, Russian | Message 14 of 70 29 May 2012 at 10:04am | IP Logged | ||
For many foreigners, this is probably a point in favor of British English. Anyway, British spellings are probably more widespread, geographically at any rate. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5831 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 15 of 70 29 May 2012 at 12:08pm | IP Logged | ||
That is a very grey area, even in the UK. As far as I'm aware, the Oxford English Dictionary actually recommened American spellings (like -ize in place of -ise) over British spellings. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4707 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 16 of 70 29 May 2012 at 1:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think that in the Netherlands there is a preference for either accent. British is taught in schools and American is dominant in the media, and people will understand either way. Among my friends the general consensus is split and as a whole accents (apart from my US-born/former resident friends) are fairly British-centred, although all of us could do a fair American one if we tried. I know one of my friends prefers the British spelling.
All in all, no one really cares. I know the rule at my school was "use one spelling system and stick to it coherently, please". 1 person has voted this message useful |
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